Why Ja’Mori Maclin decided to return to Kentucky football after disappointing 2024 season
When Ja’Mori Maclin signed with Kentucky as a wide receiver transfer before the 2024 season, the fact that he had two seasons of eligibility remaining was supposed to be an afterthought.
Maclin was coming off a 1,000-yard season at North Texas. A year at Kentucky was supposed to provide the opportunity to prove to NFL scouts he could translate that production to the highest level of college football before starting his professional career.
Instead, for much of the fall it looked like Maclin would be moving on from Kentucky after one year for a different reason. The afterthought was suddenly not his second season of eligibility but his role in the UK offense.
If Maclin still had dreams of an NFL career, surely he would transfer somewhere else after being overlooked at Kentucky. A strong finish to the season with seven of his 13 catches for the entire year coming in the final four games after injuries to Barion Brown and Dane Key forced him back into the game plan looked like further proof he would take his talents elsewhere.
Instead, it was Key, Brown and much-hyped freshman receiver Hardley Gilmore who entered the transfer portal, leaving Maclin as the only receiver at Kentucky with any significant playing experience. Suddenly, he was an indispensable part of the offense again.
“We feel like this was the best decision for me,” Maclin said after UK opened spring practice earlier this month. “Had a good talk with coach (Mark) Stoops and (offensive coordinator) Bush (Hamdan) after the season, and decided to come back to lead the group.”
Kentucky has since added wide receiver transfers Kendrick Law (Alabama), J.J. Hester (Oklahoma) and Troy Stellato (Clemson) as well as freshmen early enrollees DJ Miller, Montavin Quisenberry and Preston Bowman to the roster. They could be joined by Louisiana Tech transfer Tru Edwards, the most productive of the group at the college level last season, if he is granted a waiver for an extra year of eligibility due to the Diego Pavia junior college ruling.
But the chances of Maclin being overshadowed by other receivers again looks unlikely after closing 2024 with three catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns against Louisville.
“All I need is opportunities, and I know I’ll make it,” Maclin said. “… Stayed working hard (last season), and when opportunities came, I just made them.”
Maclin’s return was the first in a series of offseason additions that have created something of a reunion for the 5-foot-11, 190-pound receiver.
UK hired L’Damian Washington to replace Dakiel Shorts as wide receivers coach, then added Hester as a transfer. Maclin, Washington, Hester and Hamdan were all at Missouri together in 2020.
“I think so in some ways maybe that’s a new trend in college football,” Hamdan said. “Certainly, where you’ve been at a spot you’ve got trust in guys. You know exactly what you’re getting. So we’re fortunate to have those guys here.”
Washington served as director of player development at Missouri in 2020 and has a relationship with Maclin’s cousin, former Missouri star and NFL wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. Maclin calls Hester his “best friend” for the past six years.
Those future additions might not have factored in his decision to return, but they should at least help comfort him that he made the correct choice.
“I’ll tell him just like I’ll tell anybody else in that room, if it didn’t go how you wanted it to go, then what can I do to help you get to those goals that you want to reach?” Washington said. “That’s my job. Doesn’t always go our way. Cool. Let’s do some self reflection. Let’s go to the drawing board. Let’s change what pieces of our process we have to change to get it done.
“Because it’s easy to point fingers. … He’s a hardworking kid. Comes from a great family. He knows what it takes. He’s been around Jeremy Maclin, who’s a pro, and I have no doubt that Ja’Mori is going to go do exactly what it takes this year that he’s getting the results he needs.”
